Hi Everyone!  I am Blaze Schwaller, founder of the Spirit Gallery Tattoo, in New London, CT.  Our studio is holding it’s third annual Skin to Canvas gallery show this July 28th through September 29th, 2012. We are looking for tattoo artists and body mod professionals to hang paintings, sculptures and drawings that they make outside of the tattoo booth – showcasing that tattooist are artists and giving the public a taste of the beautiful and creative art being produced by the members of the tattoo industry.

The show will be heavily promoted through the radio, web and social media – each year the turn out is larger and larger!  Please contact me or Lari at Spirit Gallery Tattoo for more information and to be included in the press release as a participating artist! More information will be on our website starting in May as we begin putting together this diverse and exciting show. www.spiritgallerytattoo.com

I, myself, am a huge believer in the transformational quality of tattooing. I really love working with my clients to help them capture a moment on their skin.  The collaboration between the client and artist is very fulfilling for me.  It allows me to share my love for art with someone on a very personal and permanent level – I couldn’t ask for anything more awesome to spend my time doing!

My favorite tattoos to work on are of animals, portraits, flowers and other natural settings.  I love capturing the archetypal essence of an idea for someone and translating it into an image that is beautiful and serves its purpose.  Sure, not all tattoos have deep meaning – but they do capture some aspect of our souls, and I love looking for that connection and making it apparent on the skin.

I opened Spirit Gallery Tattoo in July of 2007. The Gallery combines my love of painting and illustration with the transformational power of tattoos. I am a painter as well as a tattoo artist, and have been working on a series of life-size portraits of friends and family for a gallery show here this October of 2012.

I love portraiture, nature and wildlife tattoos, and enjoy story-telling and fantasy art. When I am not at the tattoo studio or at home painting, you an usually find me at Southwick’s Zoo in MA, or hiking at local parks.  I continue to paint and study with artists who inspire me, and bring that inspiration into the tattoos I am honored to work on.

I’m also a huge fan of wildlife, and support the Wolf Conservation Center of NY (www.nywolf.org) as well as conservation groups such as the NRDC.  I held a charity show for them in 2010 to help raise funds for their educational and breeding programs reintroducing wolves to their natural environments.  As part of the fundraising process, I went out on a limb and requested donations from several celebrities, and the first one to respond was Donald Trump!  Inspired by his contribution, I painted “Trump Wolf”.  Atka (shown above) visited us twice for this show – once to model for the artists painting for the show, and again at the opening reception for an educational talk to the public, and of course to see his paintings! 

TattCafe is proud to share this ‘Call for Artists‘ on behalf of Blaze Schwaller and Spirit Gallery Tattoo in New London, CT, USA.  TattCafe.com is an online dating site for tattooed people and those who love them. Visit our website at www.TattCafe.com, bookmark or follow our  blog at here at www.TattCafe.wordpress.com, or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

www.americanpinupburlesquefest.com/tattoo-contest.html

The event will take place in Ybor at the historic Cuban Club March 23-25

in the Tampa Bay Area.

Tampa-based Pin Up America, Inc., the world leader in pin up, rockabilly and burlesque culture has announced an exciting event in the Tampa Bay area – the first annual American Pinup Burlesque Fest. This year’s main event, Party Like a Pinup, will benefit Little Darling’s Pinups for Pitbulls and will feature celebrity,  Shorty Rossi from Animal Planet’s Pit Boss.

The American Pinup Burlesque Fest is sure to attract a crowd from across the world and will be packed with unique parties, events, workshops, vendors and networking opportunities. Weekend activities include pinup, burlesque, hair, make-up and photography workshops, unique vendors, live bands and special guest burlesque performances. There will also be a hot rod car show, motorcycle show and tattoo competition. Featured events include the Miss Pin Up America Pageant, the Burlesque America Competition and a Party Like a Pinup Event on Saturday night that benefits Pinups for Pitbulls, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness about breed specific legislation and discriminatory laws.

This festival will not only connect an international community of amazing pinup, burlesque, and rockabilly artists and enthusiasts, it’ll also be tons of fun and will raise money for a fantastic cause! Advance tickets can be purchased now and range from $25 for a one-day festival pass to a $220 all-inclusive pass for workshops and special events.

According to the co-founder of Pin Up America, Inc., April Catalano, “We’re not joking when we say this is a very unique event. In fact, for anyone interested in winning a free weekend pass to Burlesque Fest, we’re offering a full weekend pass to the first participant to get our amazing Burlesque Fest logo tattooed on his or her body! Doug Hatter of Z-Edge Tattoos and Piercings will tattoo it for free!”

Category 1: Best “Color” Tattoo
Category 2: Best “Black & Gray” Tattoo
Category 3: Best “Fest” Tattoo

(best “fest” tattoo refers to pinup/burlesque/rockabilly/vintage car & bike)

AWARDS:
Each winner will receive:
-Custom crafted plaque*
-Feature on the Pin Up America Show
-All 3 winners will be featured together in Pin Up America Magazine
-A copy of the newest issue of Pin Up America Magazine

If you are looking for a paramour for 2012, checking out tattoo oriented events is a wise and enjoyable past-time.  Hundreds and hundreds of tattoo lovers and those who love them milling about showing off their ink.  What’s not to like?

As it say, the official website is: www.tattoofestiasi.ro and you will find everything you need to know about what is happening with vendors, exhibitors, artists, and entry fees.

Keep me posted on your tattoo events and we will add them here and at www.TattCafe.com in the members events section.

KitsilanoKitty, TattCafe Member #1

http://livingartstattoo.net/Livingartstattoo/2012/01/01/new-years-eve-skulls-by-brian/

I was always thinking that tattoos are just something that people do to look like bad asses. Never thought it would mean something totally different.

While living in Athens I started dating a Canadian chick that was full of tattoos. After a while she explained me why she had all these tattoos and what they meant to her.  Soon enough I starting feeling the craving to get a personal tattoo also.   I just wanted to get one. I thought it could all be summed up into one tattoo.

One weekend she took me to the 1st Athens Adult Expo.  Didn’t really know what went on there but in Athens this was a big deal being that the country is so Orthodox Greek.  It was crazy and while my chickie was upstairs drinking and watching the ‘live’ show, I snuck down to the tattoo kiosk and browsed through the flash books.  I had a few too many drinks, the tattoos were cheap and with the help of a skinny blond in just a g-string and see-thru top, I chose my first tattoo.  The result was a kanjy that means LAZY. A word that used to represent me  a lot.  What can I say – it wasn’t big or tough but it said it all.

I bet lots of you out there have an embarrassing tattoo story!

TattCafe Member ID:  saio13, Vancouver, BC

www.TattCafe.com

I’m Brandy Bones and my first bunch of tattoos were done when I lived in Montana. The one that I decided not to cover up is a sacred heart on my right bicep. The guy who drew it was my first puppy love so I keep it to remind myself to follow my heart (but don’t be an idiot about it).

In Bellingham, WA, I got two traditional roses with red spider-webs on my chest and the next year I started my half sleeve. I had an infatuation with sea monsters so I got an old Norse woodcarving of a Kraken taking down a ship on my left arm. On the inside of my arm is a whale from an old sea map (which resembles a boar more than a whale) and my elbow has a ship’s wheel. Steve Hate from Old School Tattoo did me the honor of creating those pieces. I liked the idea of getting those ‘sea-monsters’ that at the time were rendered fearsome to keep people from venturing out to sea. Now we would never let something like that stop us from exploring which is my metaphor for: no ignorance = no fear.

My sister and I also have our Scottish clan motto Anderson (MacAnders) on our feet, a tattoo we got together for Xmas. One foot says “Stand” the other says “Sure” cause she had been through some tough times and I wanted her to always remember that she has two strong feet to stand on, and that her sister would always be there for her. We got those tattoos done by Phil at American Made in Missoula, MT.

A little more about that matching tattoo – John and I wanted to get tattoos on this particular European tour so a friend hooked us up with a place on the Reeperbahn in Hamburg. I sent him the images and the description of what we wanted but he had done no prep so I stood over him and made him draw out a compass rose with an all seeing eye in the middle with a fleur de lis for north. I asked for the tattoo in brown ink (as a back up plan) and after he finally obliged John went first (as the noble test dummy). Right after we got tattooed we played a show to about 400 or 500 crazy-ass Germans and there was the tattooist – I even thanked him on stage as a final f-you after he realized he had just butchered the band. It was our own fault really, we should’ve turned right back around when the drawing wasn’t finished but hey, it made a good story! Bryan at Dark Day Tattoo in Vancouver did the honor of fixing that for us, its actually one of my favorite tattoos now.  I also got a version of what could have been a cliché musician tattoo – f-holes – on my neck from Dark Day … and Bryan is halfway thru a bio-mechanical crow on my left side.  I’m sure that won’t be the end of my tattoos – but it’s a good start.

***

Brandy Bones is the bass superstar in Big John Bates!

Vancouver, BC, Canada – Catch Big John Bates playing Friday, December 23rd Big John Bates with guest DB Buxton

Tickets online at: www.ticketweb.ca

***

Brandy Bones is proud to support the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society!

***

I’m Big John Bates & I got my first ink in 1984 when I was in Annihilator – the bassist and I got inked in a basement apartment in Val D’Or, QC on a dare – needles thru a Bic pen and some kind of toy motor. It was a rose that looked more like a palm tree with an initial in it. That got covered by the “moon is made of green cheese” piece on my right arm at Isis in Montreal in the late 80′s. I keep adding to both arms (I guess you’d call them half-sleeves) while on tour in Europe and North America. As you can see I mainly go for a style that is part traditional and part cartoon with all of the images linked to my life or philosophies.

The images are mainly original, under the moon on my right arm there’s a skeleton rocker playing a Gretsch – an alteration from the cover of Rockabilly Psychosis and the Garage Disease album. The desert island, waves, tiki, bottles and erupting volcano around the guitarist are all about my personality and were done in Wilhelmshaven, Germany by a guy who didn’t speak a word of English – just German and Russian. We had a hell of a time communicating it all to him but he did exactly what I wanted.

Anyway the rocker himself was done by Isis in Montreal, as was the gothabilly girl, on my left arm. She came from Ottawa, a strange story too long to tell. The frame around her was done in Munster, Germany around 2003 and the spider-webbing inside was by Bryan Glatiotis at Dark Day in Vancouver (Main & 30th). Bryan is a close friend of mine and he’s working on my next piece – a ship made out of a stone castle for my right forearm. He also completed the compass rose on the inside of my right wrist (to keep me going in the right direction and because I live on the ocean). It was initially done in brown ink in Hamburg but it was shite so Bryan fixed the wreck in black. Brandy has the matching tattoo on her left wrist.

***

Everyone in Vancouver, BC, Canada – Catch Big John Bates playing Friday, December 23rd Big John Bates with guest DB Buxton

Tickets online at: www.ticketweb.ca

***

Stephanie Hutchings - Co-Owner Port Side

Big V and I stopped in at Port Side Tattoo (Vancouver, BC) mid-afternoon on Saturday to check out the Toys for Tatts event.  As you can see the hall is already lined with donations!  The waiting area was packed tight with some overflow outside smoking in the chill.  The shop air was filled with the buzzing of tattoo guns.  The artists had designed a series of small tattoos for keeners to choose from:

Flash for the Day

Fantastic event from concept to execution.  Kudo’s to everyone who came down and supporter the crew at Port Side Tattoo and a super big pat on the back for tireless Stephanie! (Hopefully she recovers soon to give us some details on how many tatt’s and toys were received during this tattoo marathon…)

Best wishes,

Kits Kitty on the Scene

The crew of Port Side Tattoo Collective at 1685 Davie Street in the West End will be donating their time and talent on Saturday December 17th for a fun toy drive in support of the Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau.

They are offering tattoos in exchange for toy donations for kids in need. They’re asking  folks to bring in unwrapped toys of at least $40 in total value accompanied with a receipt. In exchange you will be able to choose from over 100 tattoo designs, many created specifically for this occasion, and have it tattooed by one of the Port Side artists.

Doors will be open at noon and Nick Wasko, Geoff McCann, Pat Berube, and Trish Bevz will be tattooing on a first come first serve basis until they completely run out of steam.

It is recommended for gift bearers to make their way to the shop as early as possible to get on the list in order to avoid disappointment!

Website: http://portsidetattoo.com/news.html

FB Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/299681320055153/